No Duh. We have been home for 6 months with Emma, but the title to this post seemed appropriate considering the last post was right before we left. What a trip! For everyone that knows us, you already know all the details, good to bad. From the perfect day, when we met Emma to the dreadful run in with the CDC and US State Department bureaucracy which led us to our late night harrowing escape from Saigon, I mean Guangzhou. "Maria you have 25min to pack everything! By yourself! Hurry! Hurry! We have to run to catch the last train to Hong Kong!" Memories of this trip have been burned into our minds , never to be forgotten.
We both learned about, love at first sight. That feeling of when you hold your child for the first time. We also were blessed to have the opportunity to truly understand how lucky we are to be living in this beautiful country. More so me than Maria. Coming from the Philippines she already had a deeper appreciation of all this country means. Since I was raised here, spoiled and naive I never truly understood the poverty and despair that exists in this world. I've seen the tiny wood shacks with tin roofs, no electricity or plumbing that are typical in Panama and Rio DeJanairo slums but always from a safe distance inside an air conditioned tour bus. Our trip to the orphanage in China really opened my eyes.
The Social Welfare Institute (SWI) we visited was one of the better SWI we were told. Holt International, our agency, sponsors it and has a good relationship with the directors. The SWI's in China are also homes for older people with no family to care for them. As well as some disabled and unfortunate adults who never were able to adapt to life outside the SWI on their own. All SWI's are state run and there is a policy of not allowing tours to foreigners. Because of the relationship Holt has with this particular SWI we were given the opportunity to see inside. We saw many happy children, but it was terribly cold. Cold everywhere. Not drafty or chilly, but cold like 40-45 Deg F! How can they live like that? They allowed some pictures, but not in the room with the sick babies. The sick baby room was devastating. Freezing cold babies wrapped up in bundles of blankets like mummies, not able to move. Most wearing full down ski jump suits under all the layers of blankets. Sweating and freezing at the same time. They were in the little carts you see in the hospitals they use to wheel around newborns. Lined up symmetrically, about 12 of them. They all looked very sick. No IV's or monitors or devices you would see in a hospital. One was blue hardly able to breathe, gasping for breath. I'm sure she is not alive anymore, they said she had a terminal disease.
On a happier note, we survived the winter and are enjoying the beautiful summer. Emma has been able to visit her Cousins and Abuelos more often now that it's warm out. The monotonous rut of life has been brought alive by Emma. Family Bar-B-Q's, walks in the park and reading about Elmo at bedtime are now part of our daily routine.
Avion!, Avion! says Emma pointing to the airplane in the sky. She always does this, as if she remembers how she got here. Life is Beautiful!
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